It was not without mature thought that M. Costeclar had determined to withdraw, despite M. Favoral's pressing overtures. However infatuated he might be with his own merits, he had been compelled to surrender to evidence, and to acknowledge that he had not exactly succeeded with Mlle. Gilberte. But he also knew that he had the head of the house on his side; and he flattered himself that he had produced an excellent impression upon the guests of the house.
"Therefore," had he said to himself, "if I leave first, they will sing my praise, lecture the young person, and make her listen to reason."
He was not far from being right. Mme. Desciavettes had been completely subjugated by the grand manners of this pretender; and M. Desclavettes did not hesitate to affirm that he had rarely met any one who pleased him more.
The others, M. Chapelain and old Desormeaux, did not, doubtless, share this optimism; but M. Costeclar's annual half-million obscured singularly their clear-sightedness.
They thought perhaps, they had discovered in him some alarming features; but they had full and entire confidence in their friend Favoral's prudent sagacity.
The particular and methodic cashier of the Mutual Credit was not apt to he enthusiastic; and, if he opened the doors of his house to a young man, if he was so anxious to have him for his son-in-law, he must evidently have taken ample information.
Finally there are certain family matters from which sensible people keep away as they would from the plague; and, on the question of marriage especially, he is a bold man who would take side for or against.
Thus Mme. Desciavettes was the only one to raise her voice. Taking Mlle. Gilberte's hands within hers:
"Let me scold you, my dear," said she, "for having received thus a poor young man who was only trying to please you."
Excepting her mother, too weak to take her defence, and her brother, who was debarred from interfering, the young girl understood readily, that, in that parlor, every one, overtly or tacitly, was against her.
The idea came to her mind to repeat there boldly what she had already told her father that she was resolved not to marry, and that she would not marry, not being one of those weak girls, without energy, whom they dress in white, and drag to church against their will.
Such a bold declaration would be in keeping with her character.
But she feared a terrible, and perhaps degrading scene. The most intimate friends of the family were ignorant of its most painful sores. In presence of his friends, M. Favoral dissembled, speaking in a mild voice, and assuming a kindly smile. Should she suddenly reveal the truth?
"It is childish of you to run the risk of discouraging a clever fellow who makes half a million a year," continued the wife of the old bronze-merchant, to whom such conduct seemed an abominable crime of lese-money. Mlle. Gilberte had withdrawn her bands.
"You did not hear what he said, madame."
"I beg your pardon: I was quite near, and involuntarily -"
"You have heard his - propositions?"
"Perfectly. He was promising you a carriage, a box at the opera, diamonds, freedom. Isn't that the dream of all young ladies?"
"It is not mine, madame!"
"Dear me! What better can you wish? You must not expect more from a husband than he can possibly give."
"That is not what I shall expect of him."
In a tone of paternal indulgence, which his looks belied:
"She is mad," suggested M. Favoral.
Tears of indignation filled Mlle. Gilberte's eyes.
"Mme. Desciavettes," she exclaimed, "forgets something. She forgets that this gentleman dared to tell me that he proposed to settle upon the woman he marries a large fortune, of which his creditors would thus be cheated in case of his failure in business."
She thought, in her simplicity, that a cry of indignation would rise at these words. Instead of which:
"Well, isn't it perfectly natural?" said M. Desclavettes.
"It seems to me more than natural," insisted Mme. Desclavettes, "that a man should be anxious to preserve from ruin his wife and children."
"Of course," put in M. Favoral.
Stepping resolutely toward her father:
"Have you, then, taken such precautions yourself?" demanded Mlle.
Gilberte.
"No," answered the cashier of the Mutual Credit. And, after a moment of hesitation:
"But I am running no risks," he added. "In business, and when a man may be ruined by a mere rise or fall in stocks, he would be insane indeed who did not secure bread for his family, and, above all, means for himself, wherewith to commence again. The Baron de Thaller did not act otherwise; and, should he meet with a disaster, Mme. de Thaller would still have a handsome fortune."
M. Desormeaux was, perhaps, the only one not to admit freely that theory, and not to accept that ever-decisive reason, " Others do it."
But he was a philosopher, and thought it silly not to be of his time.
He therefore contented himself with saying:
"Hum! M. de Thaller's creditors might not think that mode of proceeding entirely regular."
"Then they might sue," said M. Chapelain, laughing. "People can always sue; only when the papers are well drawn -"
Mlle. Gilberte stood dismayed. She thought of Marius de Tregars giving up his mother's fortune to pay his father's debts.
"What would he say," thought she, "should he hear such opinions!"
The cashier of the Mutual Credit resumed:
"Surely I blame every species of fraud. But I pretend, and I maintain, that a man who has worked twenty years to give a handsome dowry to his daughter has the right to demand of his son-in-law certain conservative measures to guarantee the money, which, after all, is his own, and which is to benefit no one but his own family."